How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success Using Social Media to Generate Media Coverage and Improve Brand Sentiment By: Pamela Seiple 2 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Generating Media Coverage 4 a. Media & Blogger Relations 4 b. The Inbound Marketing News Release 10 c. The Company Blog 14 d. The Social Media Newsroom 16 3. Social Media Monitoring & Crisis Communication 18 4. Value of Awards & Speaking Engagements 20 5. Customer Relations & Evangelism 22 6. Employee Relations 24 7. Measuring the ROI of Public Relations 26 Tweet This Ebook! 3 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success 1. Introduction Without a doubt, the web and social media are making it easier for businesses to communicate with their publics. At the same time, where there used to be a clear delineation between marketing and public relations, the impact of the web has resulted in a blurred line between the two industries. SRPHZRXOGDUJXHWKDWWKLVLVOHDGLQJWRWKH³GHDWK´ of public relations. On the contrary, the web is actually helping to enhance the efficiency of the PR industry. So how can you incorporate social media and inbound marketing to enhance your EXVLQHVV¶PR efforts? This ebook will discuss major topics under the umbrella of public relations and explain how you can successfully incorporate social media and internet marketing tools and strategies WRLPSURYH\RXUEXVLQHVV¶SXEOLFUHODWLRQs efforts in those areas. Why PR Will Always Be Important Public relations has been around for almost 10\HDUVDQGZRQ¶WEHNQRFNLQJRQ GHDWK¶V door anytime soon. Put simply, public relations is the practice of managing communication between a particular organization and its publics. Any given organization has a number of publiFV:KHWKHU LW¶V E\ communicating with prospects, customers, media, investors, the government, or even internally with employees, PR is something that businesses will always need. Why Social Media Participation is Critical for PR People have always said good ± and bad ± things about brands, and now that social media has risen in popularity, it means people have another platform to talk about your company and products/services. The major difference, however, is in the viral nature of this platform. When someone mentions your brand in social media, there is much more SRWHQWLDOIRURWKHUSHRSOH WR QRWLFH DQG LW¶VPRQXPHQWDOO\ HDVLHU IRUFRQYHUVDWLRQs to spread much more quickly and easily. In addition, these conversations have the potential to reach a much larger audience than ever before. If your company is not SDUWLFLSDWLQJ LQ VRFLDO PHGLD WRGD\ LW¶V PLVVLQJ DQ RSSRUWXQLW\ WR VSUHDG LWV PHVVDJH and missing valuable ± and even damaging ± conversations that could be taking place about your brand. Tweet This Ebook! 4 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success 2. Generating Media Coverage Media & Blogger Relations: Communicating With the Media and Generating Coverage :KLOHPHGLDUHODWLRQVLVRQO\RQHVLORRISXEOLFUHODWLRQVLW¶VWKHWRSLFWKDW¶VPRVWRIWHQ thought of when public relations is mentioned. Obtaining coverage in media publications (TV, radio, podcasts, online video, newspapers, magazines, online news sites, blogs, etc.) is a great way to spread the word about your business and its products/services. Where advertising is paid placement in media publications, PR coverage is free, third- party validation, which often results in more credibility for your business. So how do you secure coverage in these publications and media, and how can social media help you do this? Tactic 1: Connect & Develop Relationships With Influencers in Social Media One of the best ways to land a mention (or maybe even a feature!) of your business in the media is to start by connecting with the journalists, reporters, bloggers, and influencers who cover topics in your industry. Luckily, the web and social media are great facilitators of this. Whereas you previously had to go through mass media to get your message across, the web and social media now give you access to a whole slew of influencers with which you can easily interact and develop relationships, all by yourself. By communicating with these influencers, you can ensure your business is top-of-mind when an opportunity for a story comes along. %HORZZH¶YHKLJKOLJKWHGVRPHJUHDWZD\VVRFLDOPHGLDFDQKHOS\RXbuild relationships with influencers. Twitter Are you aware that many journalists, reporters, and bloggers make themselves available on Twitter? Using Twitter is a great way to introduce yourself and your company to the media. But how do you find the influencers in your industry on Twitter? One way is to look for influential blogs in your industry (use blog search engines like Technorati), subscribe to them, and start following their authors on Twitter. Tweet This Ebook! 5 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success Another way is to start following journalists who target your industry. Then start tweeting with them, EXW GRQ¶W RYersell your business or product. Develop relationships by tweeting about an article of theirs you enjoyed or ask how they feel about a particular topic on which they write. Sometimes reporters will also use Twitter to broadcast that WKH\¶UHVHHNLQJVXEMHFWVRU VRXUFHVIRUDSDUWLFXODUVWRU\WKH\¶UH ZULWLQJ,ILW¶VDILWIRU you, reply! Twitter Tools for Finding Influencers: x Twitter Grader: Twitter Grader is one of our free Grader tools that can help you find the top Twitter users by location and also measure the authority of a particular user. x Muck Rack: Muck Rack is a free website that enables you to search for and locate journalists by source (publication) or by beat (topic). x JournalistTweets: This free site curates tweets from journalists and allows users to filter journalists on Twitter by industry. Facebook & LinkedIn Facebook and LinkedIn are great ways to maintain relationships with media, but beware: These tools are a little bit more SHUVRQDO WKDQ 7ZLWWHU 'RQ¶W VWDUW ³IULHQGLQJ´ every reporter you find in your industry. Instead, use Twitter as a way to initiate and grow the relationship. Once the relationship exists, consider connecting on Facebook and/or LinkedIn. BatchBook AlWKRXJK LW¶V QRW D IUHH WRRO BatchBook is a great way to keep track of your communication with influencers. Its core function is to serve as an address book that you can use to keep contact information (including social media credentials) for people (e.g. the journalists or bloggers you connect with), but it also allows you to keep track of DQ\HPDLORURWKHUFRPPXQLFDWLRQVR\RXKDYHDUHFRUGRIZKR\RX¶YHEHHQLQWRXFK with. Tweet This Ebook! 6 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success Tactic 2: Pitching We could write a separate ebook on the topic of pitching. The results of pitching really depend on the time and effort you put into it and can be very hit or miss. You could end up with some really great coverage, or you could end up spending many hours of your time with no rHVXOWV,I\RX¶GOLNHWRVSHQGVRPH time pitching to journalists and bloggers, here are a few key points to consider: Stay Targeted: Know the journalist/blogger and the beat(s) and topic(s) he or she covers. One of journalists¶ DQG EORJJHUV¶ ELJJHVW SHW Seeves is getting pitched about VRPHWKLQJ WKDW GRHVQ¶W FRLQFLGH ZLWK ZKDW WKH\ ZULWH DERXW 'RQ¶W VSDP WKHP ,W¶V D surefire way to end up on a blog like the Bad Pitch Blog, and no one wants that kind of exposure. Before you pitch people, spend the time to get to know their style and the topics they write about. Make sure you read their content, and, when appropriate, leave comments7KLVZLOOVKRZWKHP\RX¶YHGRQH\RXUKRPHZRUNDUHDOUHDG\HQJDJHGZLWK their work, and will also help you make decisions about which journalists are DSSURSULDWHIRUZKDW\RX¶UHSLWFKLQJ There are paid services out there (Vocus and Cision ± IRUPHUO\%DFRQ¶V± are the most popular ones) that offer monster databases that keep an accurate tab on the contact information for various journalists who write for different publications and what their specLILFEHDWVDUH,I\RX¶UHVHULRXVDERXWSLWFKLQJWKHVHFDQEHJUHDWUHVRXUFHVDVLW¶V often difficult and time-consuming to find contact information for specific journalists on your ownDQGVHQGLQJDSLWFKWRWKHQHZVURRP¶Vµ[email protected]¶HPDLOaddress is both ineffective and untargeted. 'RQ¶W 3LWFK WKH 6DPH 3HRSOH 5HSHDWHGO\ 'RQ¶W NHHS SLWFKLQJ WKH VDPH MRXUQDOLVWV and bloggers over and over again. That said, also dRQ¶W DVVXPH WKDW EHFDXse a journalist or blogger has previously covered your, tKH\¶OOZDQWWRGRLWDJDLQ Segment your targets and only pitch people who DUHYHU\DSSURSULDWHIRUWKHVWRU\\RX¶UHSLWFKLQJ The next time you pitch for something different, target different people. Brevity Is Key: <RXU LQLWLDO SLWFK VKRXOGQ¶W EH ORQJ and you should avoid email DWWDFKPHQWV -RXUQDOLVWV RIWHQ GRQ¶W KDYH WLPH WR UHDG SDJHV DQG SDJHV RI HPDLO RU even press releases. Your initial pitch should be short, sweet, compelling, and highlight WKHNH\SRLQWV\RX¶re trying to make as well as why that journalist should want to cover LW,IWKH\¶UHLQWHUHVWHGWKH\¶OOUHTXHVWDGGLWLRQDOPRUHGHWDLOHGLQIRUPDWLRn on their own. Have Something Interesting to Offer: :KDW¶VQHZDQGGLIIHUHQWDERXW\RXUVWRU\",VLW particularly timely? Have an angle, and make it interesting. Personalize It: 6KRZ\RXUWDUJHW\RX¶YHGRQH\RXUKRPHZRUN0HQWLRQVSHFLILFUHDVRQV why what you have to offer will benefit his or her readers. Tweet This Ebook! 7 How to Leverage Social Media for Public Relations Success Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a great tooO WKDW KHOSV WR FRQQHFW MRXUQDOLVWV¶ story needs with PR professionals